The Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction short stories of Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

I Question Your Character (and so should you)

As stated in a previous post, hand in hand with creating a strong premise for your story, developing believable characters to fill your imaginary world is an essential part of constructing fiction. The best way for your audience to identify with characters lies in your ability to understand them fully, and the best way for you to accomplish this is to talk to them, or better yet, ask them a series of questions. It’s important that you don’t allow them be evasive and certainly do not take no for an answer.

Don’t worry, you won’t be asking them complicated things like their strategy on balancing the nation’s budget, why the burning sun doesn’t incinerate itself, or how do you solve a problem like Maria? The list of questions below are relatively basic, some which have occurred to you and others that most likely haven’t. And even though most of their answers aren’t particularly relevant to your story and probably won’t come up in conversation, it will aid you in understanding the inner workings of their nonexistent minds.

You’ll notice that the questions have been broken up into bite-sized nuggets, thus making the task of developing your characters less insurmountable, and offering you a coffee or ciggie butt break between your interrogation, should you need it. Now, without further ado:

101 Character Development Questions (grill ‘em like a steak!)

Character Development Questions #1 – The Basics

These are the first questions you need to answer about your character – the stuff you probably need to know to get started.

Name?

Age?

Approximate height?

Approximate weight?

Hair color?

Eye color?

Skin tone?

Do they speak with an accent?

Where are they from?

Where are they now?

Character Development Questions #2 – Backstory

Developing a solid backstory for your characters is essential – even if you don’t put much or any of it in the narrative. The more you treat your character as though they are a real person, the more real they’ll become.

Who are their parents? Biologically and socially.

What is their earliest memory?

What did they want to be when they grew up?

What did/do their parents want them to be?

Do they have siblings? Older or younger? Brothers or sisters?

Do they have or have they ever had children? How many?

Do they or have ever had a significant other? Are they still with them? Why? Why not?

What were they doing right before the story starts?

Up until now, what’s the most noteworthy thing they’ve done? To them? To the people around them?

What was their education like?

Character Development Questions #3 – Tastes

Your characters likes and dislikes is possibly the most overt part of ‘who they are’.

What’s your character’s favorite color?

Do they/would they choose to wear a scent? What would it be?

Do they care about what things look like? All things, or only some?

What’s their favorite ice cream flavor?

Are they a tea, or coffee drinker? Or soft drinks, or do they drink a lot of alcohol? What kind?

What kind of books do they read? What TV shows and movies do they watch?

What kind of music do they like? Do they like music at all?

If they were about to die, what would they have as their last meal?

Are they hedonistic? In all cases? Or does practicality sometimes/always/often win out?

Do they have any philias or phobias?

Character Development Questions #4 – Morals, Beliefs, and Faith

A character’s moral code and beliefs can offer a lot of insights on their motives, and the likelihood of their taking a given course of action.

Do they have an internal (something that they’ve come up with for themselves) or an external (something handed to them via religion, family traits, etc.) moral code?

To what extent are their actions dictated by this code?

Do they believe in a God or Gods/Goddesses/Higher being of some description?

Are they superstitious?

Do they value faith/instinct more highly than reason?

Do they believe in an afterlife? If so, what’s it like?

Do they have any specific beliefs that manifest obviously?

Are the respectful of the beliefs of others? To what extent?

Have they ever had to stand up to criticism for being religious? Or not being religious?

Would they be more likely to act for the good of the one, or the good of the many?

Character Development Questions #5 – Relationships

It would be difficult to write a character who never interacted with anyone else. We learn more about a character from the way other people react to them than by their actions alone.

Do they make friends easily?

Do they have a best friend?

Can they get people to do what they want them to? If so, how?

Do they have a lot of romantic relationships? Serious, or short term?

Do they fall in and out of love easily?

Do strangers and acquaintances actually like them when they meet?

Do they have a network (people they’re connected to without necessarily knowing)?

What is their relationship like with their family?

Are they still in touch with non-family people they were in touch with a year ago? Five years? Ten? More?

Do they like children? Do they want children of their own?

Character Development Questions #6 – Physical Appearance

Time to play dress up!

How does this character dress? How would they choose to dress, if all options were open to them?

Do they have any tattoos? What do they mean?

Do they have piercings? How many? Is this culturally appropriate for them?

Do they have scars? Where did they come from?

Do they alter their appearance in some way on a regular basis (make up, hair dye, etc.)?

Is there something they’d choose to change about their appearance if they had the opportunity to?

Is there something about their appearance they’re particularly proud of/happy with?